Musings

I haven't been photographing my projects lately. There has just been a little too much ..... life.... to deal with for that to happen. There have been a few little things I've made, like yesterday when I made one of my owl aprons as a prize for Bunco because I didn't have anything to take. Three months ago I was asked to write up a pattern for it and though I tried yesterday, my heart just wasn't in it.

Do you ever feel like that?

Crafting is often my escape but when life is really burdening my mind I find that I'm ineffective at escaping from it.

Right now I'm struggling with helping my daughter feel loved and cherished and like she has an important place in our family. Divorce is awful for children. I have spent so many years trying to guard her emotions. She is loved dearly by me, her dad, The Hubs, a whole slew of grandparents and so many many more people but she is getting old enough to recognize that things are... different. Not bad, not excluding, but different. The Hubs is far more dedicated to parenting his little lady than Squirt's dad is and she doesn't understand why. There is a gaping hole in her heart that only her dad can fill and it breaks my heart. No matter how hard I try I just can't fix it.

So, I've been focused on emotionally rebuilding a little life instead of making things to pass my time.

Today, I'm trying to hug my child a little tighter - speak a little kinder - think a little more of others. I'll think about tomorrow when it gets here.

Leather Headband

I have a cute friend who is always wearing headbands. Since I chopped 11 inches off my hair on Halloween I've been hesitant to wear hair accessories as I think they look silly on me. However, my hair has grown a couple inches since then and I can almost pull it back without looking grungy. Every time I see this cute friend in her cute headbands I think I ought to try wearing more accessories.

So I drew up a pattern and went for it. I made mine 18 inches long and tapered it from 2 inches wide at the center 6 inches to 1 inch wide at the sides. Confused? You can print my pattern here:

Micha Muses Leather Headband Pattern

About 8 years ago, I bought this purse and have loved it. Recently I've switched to something more colorful and this was sitting in the donation bag.

I loved the simplicity of it, and the fact that I could fit my Canon Rebel into it when we'd go to places. At first I hoped to use a plain strip of leather but because of the seams I didn't have a space big enough to do that. So I cut out the headband piece running across the seams and kept that detail which gave me a strip like this.

I completely admit to freaking out both when I cut into the purse I had loved and when I saw the curly-ness of the leather strip. But I went with it anyway.

Wrapping it around my head I estimated how long I'd want the elastic to be. I went with 4.5 inches. After we stitch it on it will be about an inch shorter and I didn't want the headband to fit too snug.

Overlap the elastic on the inside edge of the headband about 1/4 inch and stitch a line across the entire width to keep it in place.

Fold the Leather up so the end of the elastic is held inside.

Stitch a line across the open edge of the fold to hold it all in place. Great! Now stitch close to the bottom edge to keep it in place there.

That's all well and good, but lets stitch over it about 5 more times just because I'm paranoid about things laying flat and elastic fraying... and I like the look of multiple rows of imperfect stitching. Do the same to thing attaching the elastic to the other end of the headband and you should have something that looks like this:

AND... that's it. I chose to leave the cut edges of the leather as is. It won't fray and isn't bulky.

Verdict? Since the hubs told me I looked cute the first time I wore it, I think it's a winner.

Pinch "Pleat" Knit Infinity Scarf

The Hubs is out of town. It's only been about 6 hours since he left and already he's called and asked "What did you make?" When I said a scarf, his reply was simply "Of course you did." Evidently to at least someone in this world I am predictable.

This project completely evolved out of another idea. I had planned on making a fringed knit scarf, but didn't think I could actually see myself wearing it. I started cutting up a shirt and the next thing I know this is what I came up with. I think it's pretty fantastic.

Start with a basic knit infinity scarf from an old tee. It was a little painful to cut this one as it's the school I worked at for the last couple years and I dearly miss it there. Fortunately, I have more than one :)

I really love the soft butter yellow color. I thought of just leaving it as it was but realized it felt a little too plain. After squishing it around in my hands and trying to picture it with a pin, I decided to do this:

Cut the thread and try it on! Seriously folks, it's pretty easy. I love it so much I'm thinking of making one for a prize at next month's Bunco gathering. I think it would look pretty dreamy with a broach or scarf pin too.

45 Minute Polo Skirt

"Hey, I recognize that shirt skirt."
"Mommy, you look cute!"

Ahhh, what a glorious compliment. As Squirt is getting older and more opinionated, those don't happen very much.

There is a rule in our house that no clothes can go into the donation pile until I rummage through them first. Actually, I just shove them all into the bottom two drawers of my dresser waiting until inspiration strikes. The only thing is that I am a terrible seamstress and am often petrified of attempting to refashion apparel.

Does anyone else feel this way?

It probably comes as a surprise to a few. My mom had a B.S. in Clothing and Textiles - back when that was a viable study option. She sewed all the time. Every special dress I had was made by my mother. In sixth grade she made a beautiful tea length dress with 3/4 sleeves for Easter. It was stunning. Ruffles were the style back in the day and it had a ruffled skirt edge, ruffled sleeve edges, and a square ruffled yoke at the collar. The fabric was a soft ivory with a pastel floral print (the sort of print I'd rather die than wear now) and it belted with a wide lavender satin sash. Oh, how I LOVED that dress and could not wait for her to finish it.

On each of the ruffles she added narrow lace trim. Ever the perfectionist, my mom didn't like the way the lace laid on the dress so she removed it and stitched it all on by hand in order for it to lay the way she wanted. When it was finally finished, I was able to wear my Easter dress for the first time on Mother's Day. Mom would rather take the time to do things perfect than just get them done.

I am not like that.

Nor did I learn to sew at home. Her perfectionism prevented her from teaching me how to sew as she wanted to take out my stitching and redo it so everything was just-so. As a result, clothing scares me.

But I love stripes, remember? And The Hubs put a fantastic dark navy polo with thin white stripes into the give-away-or-do-whatever-with-it pile. I want a skirt out of that fabric so badly that I'm willing to try, but it's a nice shirt (Banana Republic) and I'll feel guilty if my refashion fails miserably since it would have been nice and usable to someone if I'd have been willing to donate it. Which led me to pull a different shirt out of the pile and practice on it.

Using a skirt I already have, I measured how wide the waistband should be and how long I wanted the skirt to be.

I then drew the outline on the back of some wrapping paper to create a pattern.

I knew that I wanted the stripes to match at the side seams so I chose to cut each piece out separately. Sliding a rotary cutting mat in the middle of the shirt made it easy to pin/cut the layers individually.

Take the first cut piece and pin it so the stripes match up just right, then cut out the second pieces.

Seam the sides and try it on to be sure nothing needs adjustment. Once the seams are just right, finish them with a zig-zag stitch or serge the edges. The skirt is just the right size to fit me in the waist as it is but I don't want the fabric to get stretched out and goofy as I pull it over my pear shaped figure. So I folded the top down an inch, pressed and stitched it to create an elastic casing. I added some 3/4 inch elastic, stitched off the opening, and am totally in love with my new skirt.

The best part about using the shirts is that I used the existing hem and don't have to finish off the bottom!

I love it. It's made me feel pretty confident to tackle the other shirt I'm drooling over. Now I just can't wait for Spring to wear it!